West Brom will fear Celtic nightmare is coming true | OneFootball

Eric Ramsay’s stint at West Brom could turn into what Wilfried Nancy’s was at Celtic after a dreadful opening two games.

Alarm bells will be ringing for West Brom as they are now in the midst of a relegation battle.

This was firmly realised after a damaging 5-0 home defeat at the hands of Norwich City, with Albion last conceding five at The Hawthorns in the second-tier all the way back in 1999.

It was an evening that everybody connected with Albion knew they had to win to drive themselves clear of the bottom three, but the Baggies side came out lacking fight, passion, leadership and general organisation.

All the goals Albion conceded had some form of diabolical defending attached to them. Firstly, the Baggies fell behind to a rasping long-range effort from Oscar Schwartau, who failed to be closed down as he drifted and unleashed his strike from around 20 yards out, leaving goalkeeper Josh Griffiths with no chance.

Four second half goals followed for the Canaries on a miserable and rainy evening in B71, as Ali Ahmed, Ben Slimane, Ben Chrisene and Mathias Kvistgaarden all profited from a fragile Albion backline, who were booed off and told that they weren’t fit to wear the shirt.

It was an utterly embarrassing evening for the Black Country outfit, a total shock after they had pushed promotion-contending Middlesbrough all the way last Friday evening.

That result means West Brom are now dangerously in touching distance of the League One trapdoor, with an ominous trip to Derby County coming up this coming Friday, a side who Albion rarely get points from in recent times.

Meanwhile, it’s been a disastrous start for Eric Ramsay in charge, who has witnessed his team concede a whopping eight goals in his first two games.

Expected to shore up the defensive line and make them hard to beat, it’s been anything but, and you do think after Wilfried Nancy’s short and humiliating stint at Celtic after arriving from the MLS, that Ramsay could be the next casualty to arrive from America.

Eric Ramsay could be following in Wilfried Nancy’s footsteps

When looking at Eric Ramsay’s start to his West Brom tenure, you can already draw parallels to the way it unfolded for Wilfried Nancy at Celtic, who linked up with the Scottish giants after previously coaching MLS sides CF Montreal and Columbus Crew.

Originally appointed on a two-and-a-half-year contract, the Frenchman lasted just 33 days in the Celtic hotseat, going down as the shortest-serving manager in the club’s history.

Nancy was guilty of trying to change the system and playing style far too quickly, opting to implement a three at the back system, leaning away from the 4-3-3 setup that had seen Celtic win five straight matches under the interim charge of Martin O’Neill.

Clearly not getting the players to implement his way of playing, Celtic were all over the place from a defensive point of view, conceding 12 goals in the six games Nancy was in charge for, and suffering four defeats in the process, including a dismal 3-1 defeat at home to bitter rivals Rangers in the Old Firm derby.

At West Brom, Eric Ramsay has done the exact same thing with his Albion squad, changing the formation from the usual four back under Ryan Mason to a three, which has led to the Baggies conceding an alarming rate of goals in just the opening two games under his guidance.

If this persists, Ramsay could face a similar disastrous and short time in the West Brom job, particularly if the club slips into the bottom three and has its second-tier status on the line in the coming weeks.

Derby County is a huge match for West Brom to get back on track

You do sympathise with Eric Ramsay in the sense that he hasn’t had many training sessions to drill into the West Brom players exactly what he wants from them, but that is the nature of a job in the Championship, and he has to find a way of getting the squad onside and believing in his methods.

So far, the players have failed to respond to the changes made in the dugout and look even more disjointed and rudderless than when Ryan Mason was in charge, leading to serious worry in the stands that West Brom may well be a League One club come May.

And the last thing the Albion faithful want now is a trip to Pride Park to face Derby County, which looks ominous given their dreadful recent record against the Rams in the second-tier.

The Baggies have failed to win any of their last five second-tier meetings against Derby, with a drastic turnaround needed in order for Albion to even have a chance of claiming what would be a vital three points.

The first thing Ramsay must do is opt away from this three at the back system that has made Albion an embarrassing watch.

West Brom simply don’t have enough athletic defenders to play that system, while Isaac Price, Mikey Johnston and Jed Wallace have been trialled in the right wing-back role and all looked far from comfortable.

Meanwhile, Karlan Grant is being used as a centre-forward, while Josh Maja was being played off the right-hand side against Norwich, places that those sorts of players do not want to play in, and it has contributed to West Brom being so toothless in attack and open at the back.

The Welshman has to get the players in their correct positions so they can cause any form of damage to opposition teams, and if another three at the back system is deployed at Pride Park, then it could be set up for another ugly evening for West Brom.

Meanwhile, this is only going to continually grind down what is left of the confidence levels in the West Brom squad. Against Norwich, the players were booed off and fiercely criticised from the stands, with such toxicity at the moment only leading to relegation after the 46-game campaign is done and dusted.

Ramsay has to show he can adapt quickly and change something that isn’t working. Wilfried Nancy didn’t at Celtic and paid the price just over a month after taking charge, and Ramsay could well follow suit if he doesn’t wake up and correct the growing problems within his camp.